Waymo recall: Thousands of vehicles affected after software glitch during extreme weather

PHOENIX - Waymo is recalling thousands of its self-driving vehicles due to a recent software glitch, following an incident where an empty Waymo vehicle was swept away during a storm. The company says the system may cause the robotaxis to slow down and accidentally drive into standing water.

"They’re probably more safe than some of my friends driving," Jack, a Waymo customer, said.

But they’re not for everybody. Ed, who is against the technology, said, "No way am I getting into something without a driver."

What we know:

Fueling the debate, Waymo recently announced the voluntary recall of more than 3,700 vehicles. It comes after an empty robotaxi was swept away in San Antonio floodwaters during a storm. 

In a recall letter from the U.S. Department of Transportation on May 1, the recall applies to vehicles with the fifth and sixth generation automated driving systems. 

"Of course, it shows that their operational design domain didn't consider extreme weather situations like that," Junfeng Zhao, with the Polytechnic School at ASU said, highlighting a gap in the current technology. 

What they're saying:

Waymo tells FOX 10 they’re implementing new safeguards including refining operations during intense rain and limiting access to areas prone to flash flooding. The recall letter also stated that they are updating the vehicle maps. 

"Waymo provides over half a million trips every week in some of the most challenging driving environments across the U.S., and safety is our primary priority. We have identified an area of improvement regarding untraversable flooded lanes specific to higher-speed roadways, and have made the decision to file a voluntary software recall with NHTSA related to this scenario. We are working to implement additional software safeguards and have put mitigations in place, including refining our extreme weather operations during periods of intense rain, limiting access to areas where flash flooding might occur."

Local perspective:

This comes as meteorologists are predicting what could be a wetter monsoon season. Last season, a viewer sent in video of a Waymo stuck in Phoenix floodwaters.

FOX 10 Meteorologist Krystal Ortiz said the outlook for the region suggests increased rainfall.

"Right now the trends are pointing towards a wetter than average monsoon," Ortiz said. "So if there’s more tropical storms, there may be more moisture to tap into, and tropically induced storms oftentimes trigger flooding in Arizona."

Dig deeper:

Zhao says the system’s error mimics human mistakes seen every season, but that the technology should never stop being worked on.

"Human drivers make wrong decisions in those extreme weather conditions as well," Zhao said. "There has to be continuous monitoring of operation and there has to be continuous regulation of this technology."

Still, he believes it eventually may outperform the rest of us. 

"I think the technology will evolve to be able to cope and handle those kind of situations and eventually reach human level of safety or even surpass human level capability," Zhao said.

What's next:

A Waymo spokesperson said the recall won't cause any disruptions to service in the metro Phoenix area, where there are thousands of robotaxis.